Monday, March 28, 2016

The boys built some birdhouses with Pappy this weekend. They used cedar fence pickets to make the houses. I used the scrapbooking app Project Life for Android to make this page. It is so easy. LOVED IT!

Monday, March 21, 2016

I had a chance to meet a friend of friend of a friend that moved to my area over a year ago. This new friend is pregnant and a Star Wars fan. So much a fan, that her nursery for her baby is decorated in Star Wars. That got me to thinking. You know me. This baby needs a quilt. So the plotting started and this is the result. I think it is subtly Star Wars.

Front of Quilt

This quilt is a mix of cotton fabric on one side and flannel on the other. This quilt ended up ragging extremely well. I usually choose to do the quilt entirely in flannel but I wasn't thrilled with the Star Wars flannels so I decided to do flannel in regular baby flannel. My friend Mrs Epi lent her expertise in the layout. This was probably the most difficult layout to date.

Back of Quilt

A slight hijack of this post. There is some really cool nursery ideas and whatnot out there on pinterest for Star Wars Stuff.

Thursday, March 17, 2016

Well it is tradition to hunt for leprechaun gold at our house. The first recorded gold hunt for us was in 2008 but I am unable to link to that one. So if you need ideas, here are a few of our scavenger/gold hunts. None of these required intense planning and no leprechauns were harmed.

Monday, March 14, 2016

I might be in a little love with Cormoran Strike the private detective and main character. Strike is investigating the death or supposed suicide of Lula Landry a model superstar. This story takes you on many twists and turns. Like the best mysteries, I didn't see the ending coming.

I also read In a Different Key - The Story of Autism. I actually did a whole post on this book itself. (my review) This book is receiving a lot of press this tome clocks in at 552 pages of just text that doesn't include timelines and notes. This is the exhaustive history of autism .

This book In a Different Key is HUGE. This book clocks in at 552 pages of text which doesn't include the timeline, notes, or bibliography. I was a little daunted when I received it from the library.

I am interested in Autism because my son has high functioning autism. My son was not diagnosed until age 14.

In a Different Key is written in a friendly approachable style so while large in size the reading is not terribly difficult. The movement to understand Autism is largely because parents have pushed for more understanding, research, acceptance.

What I learned:
Who to include in the spectrum has been complicated from the very beginning. The definition and the criteria has changed numerous times. Not all researchers agree on the diagnostic checklist. So consequently some people have been included under one DSM to then been excluded under another version.

"Autism was, and would long remain, a diagnosis in the eye of the beholder." (In a Different Key)

Parents have been vital to autism being researched. They were the first to form groups and fund raise for research in Autism.

Autism Speaks was founded by grandparents of an autistic child. Critics of Autism Speaks has often cited that there are no Autistic people on their board. Without a doubt Autism Speaks is the largest fundraising and information center on Autism.

I already knew but in case anyone out there is in the dark VACCINES DON'T CAUSE AUTISM!!!

I thought I knew a lot about the history of autism but I really learned a lot through this book. This deepened my understanding of autism. I think the quote sums things up nicely.

Indeed, the fact is that even with all the contentiousness attached to the word "autism," the momentum pushing all the argument has also, over time, pushed all the societies that have tried to deal with autism in the most commendable direction, which is toward ever greater recognition of the dignity of individuals who are different by virtue of fitting the label in some way. It is this interpretation of autism that has that having autism-being autistic- represents but one more wrinkle in the fabric of humanity, and that no one among us is living a life "unwrinkled." (In a Different Key)